A53685:180
A discourse of the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer with a brief…
A discourse of the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer with a brief enquiry into the nature and use of mental prayer and forms / by John Owen ...
London: printed for Nathanael Ponder, 1682
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, Unto this Delight is required a sense of Gods Relation unto us as a Father. ⟨p. 100⟩By that name and under that Consideration hath the Lord Christ taught us to address our selves unto him in all our Supplications. And although we may use other Titles and Appellations in our speaking to him, even such as he hath given himself in the Scripture, or those which are Analogous thereunto; yet this Consideration principally influenceth our Souls and minds, that God is not ashamed to be called our Father, that the Lord Almighty hath said that he will be a Father unto us, and that we shall be his Sons and Daughters, 2 Cor. 6. Wherefore as a Father is he the ultimate object of all Evangelical Worship, of all our Prayers. So is it expressed in that Holy and Divine Description of it given by the Apostle, Eph. 2. 18. Through Christ we have an Access by one Spirit unto the Father. No Tongue can express, no mind can reach the Heavenly placidness and Soul-satisfying Delight which are intimated in these words. To come to God as a Father, through Christ, by the help and assistance of the Holy Spirit, revealing him as a Father unto us, and enabling us to go to him as a Father, how full of sweetness and satisfaction is it! Without a due Apprehension of God in this Relation, ⟨p. 101⟩no man can pray as he ought. And hereof we have no sense, herewith we have no Acquaintance, but by the Holy Ghost. For we do not consider God in a general manner, as he may be said to be a Father unto the whole Creation; but in an especial distinguishing Relation, as he makes us his Children by Adoption. And as it is the Spirit that bears witness with our Spirit, that we are thus the Children of God, Rom. 8. 16. giving us the highest and utmost Assurance of our Estate of Sonship in this World; so being the Spirit of Adoption, it is by him alone that we have any Acquaintance with our interest in that Privilege.
Secondly, Unto this Delight is required a sense of Gods Relation unto us as a Father. ⟨p. 100⟩